The Rejected Design Principles (#5)

One of my oldest friends (and former startup founder) has a print of a Francisco de Goya self-portrait in his office. It shows an old man with a long white beard hunched over two walking canes. “Aun aprendo” is scrawled across the bottom, which translates to “Still, I learn.”

I redrew that print on a pink post-it (as an elderly turtle, because drawing humans is hard) and wrote “Aun afriendo” as a small joke, pretending it translated to “Still, I friend.”

Life is a lot more fun when you can approach every challenge with curiosity. And it’s easiest to speak up about our confusion, questions, and limited understanding when among friends.

Whether you want to become friends with your coworkers or not, choosing to be friendly — to ask, notice, and care — is one of the most powerful ways to make your design work stronger. Friendship allows for vulnerability, and vulnerability is a critical condition of continued learning.

No matter how senior, still, we must learn - and do it openly with the end goal of sharing your findings back to the team.

Aun aprendo, aun afriendo.

This is the end of the five-part “Rejected Design Principles” series, a real “first pancake” for this internet introvert. Thanks for reading and supporting my work, friends. See you on The Flipside.